‘Party Of Five’ Star Jeremy London Pleads Guilty To Hitting Wife

Actor Jeremy London (L) and actress Melissa Cunningham arrive at the 4th annual TV Guide after party celebrating Emmys 2006 held at Social Hollywood on August 27, 2006 in Hollywood, California. (credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

INDIO (CBS) — Actor Jeremy London plead guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of getting into an unlawful fight in public.

The “Party Of Five” and “7th Heaven” star was accused of hitting his estranged wife and pulling her hair during an argument over their 5-year-old son in Palm Springs.

London was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday.

Riverside Superior Court Judge Richard A. Erwood ordered the 39-year-old actor — who is free on his own recognizance — to complete 20 anger management sessions before sentencing, according to court records. London was not in court Friday; the plea was entered by his attorney on his behalf, which is allowed in misdemeanor cases.

In January, Riverside County Superior Court Judge B.J. Bjork issued a protective order requiring London to have no contact with the victim, who was identified in court papers only as “Jane Doe.”

She called police the morning of Nov. 18 and claimed that London hurt her when they were outside his car, with their son still in the vehicle.

According to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant, prepared by Palm Springs police Detective Michael Studer, the scuffle happened outside a home in the Mountain Gate complex at 400 Gateway Drive.

Studer wrote that London, who had stayed overnight at the home, put the couple’s son, still wearing pajamas, into his car and told his estranged wife he was taking the boy to breakfast.

When she grabbed London’s backpack from his car in attempt to stop them from leaving, “London grabbed her by her hair, pulling her to the ground,” Studer wrote. “… London hit her several times on the side of the head in an attempt to take the backpack away. (She) said eventually she let go of the backpack and got up off the ground to get (the boy) out of the car.”

London left immediately after the altercation, Studer wrote.

In June 2010, London made headlines when he said he was kidnapped and robbed in Palm Springs and forced to buy drugs and alcohol at gunpoint before escaping from his abductors.

In March, one of the men involved pleaded guilty to a felony charge of false imprisonment and a misdemeanor count of unlawful taking of a vehicle. Brian Adams, a 26-year-old Palm Springs man, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, but with time already served and other credits, he was released from a Banning jail the day he entered the plea, according to court records.